From November 29 to December 1, 2024, close to 30 statisticians from across Canada joined CANSSI Director Don Estep, Deputy Director Andrea Benedetti, and CANSSI support staff at the Kingbridge Centre north of Toronto for a National Retreat that will help shape the Institute’s direction over the next few years.
The gathering was part of a grassroots consultation process that began with a community survey in Summer 2024 and will culminate in a National Report on Canadian Statistical Sciences by the end of 2025. The process will also shape the programs to be included in CANSSI’s next NSERC Discovery Institutes Support (DIS) funding application.
Don presented the challenge for those in attendance after the opening dinner on Friday evening: “The National Retreat participants are charged with identifying potential issues, challenges and opportunities [for Canada’s statistical sciences community] and potential ways in which the community needs support to address and respond to these, keeping a particular eye on CANSSI’s role in these considerations.”
He emphasized that the weekend was about ideas and possibilities rather than decisions and encouraged participants to express the perspectives of the communities to which they belonged rather than their individual views.
The following day was devoted to a series of working group meetings on particular themes, each co-led by two community members:
- Established Programs, led by Changbao Wu (University of Waterloo) and Laura Cowen (University of Victoria)
- Experimental and Proposed Programs, led by Bei Jiang (University of Alberta) and Thierry Duchesne (Université Laval)
- Training and Mentoring, led by Lisa Lix (University of Manitoba) and Bouchra Nasri (Université de Montréal)
- Operations, led by Lisa Strug (University of Toronto) and Derek Bingham (Simon Fraser University)
- Community, led by Denis Talbot (Université Laval) and Wesley Burr (Trent University)
- Strategies and Partnerships, led by Aurélie Labbe (HEC Montréal) and Rob Deardon (University of Calgary)
- Communications and Advocacy, led by Jamie Stafford (University of Toronto) and Wesley Yung (Statistics Canada)
- Challenges, Opportunities, Needs, led by Jessica Gronsbell (University of Toronto) and Grace Yi (Western University)
The discussions were lively and generated insightful and valuable input on both current CANSSI programs and operations and potential new directions.
On Saturday evening, participants listened to a presentation on the purpose and potential form of the National Report by Eric Rancourt, Chair of CANSSI’s Board of Governors and Assistant Chief Statistician for the Strategic Data Management, Methods and Analysis Field at Statistics Canada, as well as to an overview of CANSSI operations and funding by Don Estep.
The weekend concluded on Sunday morning with presentations to the entire assembly by each working group.
Many participants expressed gratitude for the opportunity to share their perspectives and gather for in-person dialogue, and Don Estep and Andrea Benedetti expressed their deep appreciation for the contributions of all participants.
The notes from all working groups will be compiled into an intermediate report that will inform the National Report and the upcoming NSERC DIS application.
